Which of the following diseases can be transmitted from one person to another through tattooing?

Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

Tattooing pierces the skin with a needle that can carry a previous client's blood. Hepatitis B and HIV are blood-borne viruses, so both can pass this way if equipment is shared or not sterilised. Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne disease spread by the bites of infected Aedes mosquitoes, not by blood contact through tattoo needles.

• ✗ 1. Chikungunya virus is transmitted by infected female mosquitoes, most commonly Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. It is a vector-borne disease, not one passed between people through tattoo needles.
• ✓ 2. WHO lists tattooing and piercing among the ways hepatitis B spreads, along with needlestick injury and exposure to infected blood and body fluids.
• ✓ 3. HIV spreads through infected blood on contaminated needles and through procedures involving unsterile cutting or piercing of the skin. A tattoo needle reused without sterilisation fits this route.
• ✗ (d) Option (d) wrongly includes chikungunya, a vector-borne disease spread by mosquito bites rather than by blood contact.

Remember · Tattooing, piercing and shared needles can spread blood-borne viruses such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. Mosquito-borne diseases such as chikungunya and dengue spread through the bites of infected mosquitoes.

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2013, General Studies paper. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). · Report an error